Genetic Drift
by RenegadeAlias
Summary: An accident thrusts a strange pegasus into Twilights life, the same pony Princess Celestia has been secretly hunting for years. When Twilight tries to befriend this pegasus, she may find more than she bargained for. This pony happens to be a result of a genetic experiment using both Celestia's and Luna's DNA, and he is now trying to destroy the organization that made him.
1. Chapter 1

"If it was coming from anyone other than you Tia, I wouldn't believe it." Princess Luna said as she looked up at the night sky through one of the palace windows. When her sister didn't respond Luna shifted her gaze to the white alicorn. Celestia was deep in thought as she sat at the royal dining table, holding a mug in front of her with her hooves instead of magic. It was a quirk Celestia had when something was troubling her.

"How long have you been pursuing him?" Luna asked a little louder, breaking her sister away from her thoughts.

"Since I discovered that he existed." Celestia replied as she put her mug on the table in front of her.

"Well, what do you know about him?" The moon princess asked. "I've read the materials you keep locked away in the palace basement, but I'm not sure how much of it I should believe."

"Sadly, not very much."Celestia replied "The organization that made him worked very hard to keep his existence a secret from me, and for good reason. If I had known what they were doing I would have charged them all with high crimes. What little I do know about him comes from wasn't destroyed in the incident where he escaped from their grasp. "

"But is it true? This organization designed him at the genetic level? With our. . ." Luna asked quietly before trailing off, still not entirely sure if she should believe what she had been told. She definitely didn't want to. Before her banishment, such a thing would have never been considered possible.

"Yes," came Celestia's solemn reply."I don't know how they managed to do it, but they used both of our genes as genetic templates when they engineered him. Both yours, mine, and maybe some genes belonging to a few others."

Luna's gaze shifted back toward the window, she was trying to think of the right words to say. She felt violated, as if something had been stolen from her.

"Why would these ponies, our own subjects, do this?" Luna asked.

"They refer to him as subject seven." Celestia began to explained "He was a research experiment. They were looking for ways to improve health and extend their own lives, as well create a pony better suited for fighting."

There was another pause as the moon princess looked around the dining room, no one other than her sister was present.

"That explains why they would want to use our genes, as immortal alicorns we're gifted with youth, strength, and power. . . but is he?"

"No, he's not an alicorn," Celestia responded, already knowing her sisters question before she voiced it. "That would make tracking him down way too easy. Alicorns are very rare, and making him an alicorn would draw a lot of attention. Attention is something his designers wanted to avoid."

"But it doesn't make sense Tia. I was on the moon, how could they-" Luna began a question.

"Get your genes?" Celestia finished for her. "During your. . . 'tantrum' a thousand years ago, one of my solar guards grazed you with an enchanted arrow."

Luna nodded in response. "I remember"

"And although you healed instantly from that attack" Celestia continued "The arrow did draw some blood, and it carried that blood on its tip. The guard who shot it kept it as a trophy of sorts. One of his descendants still has it the last time I checked."

"I see. . . remind me to retrieve that arrow" Luna replied.

"As for me, they could have gotten my genes from anywhere, even from the saliva left on a tea cup." Celestia motioned toward the mug she had put down on the table.

It took Luna a second to process the information before moving on to her next question.

"The materials I read indicated that he is trying to destroy that organization which made him, why is he enemies with them now?" Luna asked as she sat down next to her sister.

"I don't know. I know less about them than I do about him. I don't even know their actual name, just that they are sometimes referred to as 'The Order.' But, I do know that this organization has deep ties to our government. " Celestia replied deep in thought. "And that's probably why he hasn't come forward with what has happened to him. He's probably afraid our government would just send him back to The Order."

"Understandable I guess." Luna nodded in response. However, she knew there was no way to know that was the reason for sure.

"It was his falling out with the order that drew my attention for the first time." Celestia explained. "The facility they kept in him, a small fort hidden in the northern mountains, was found by one of my patrols. Everypony inside, somewhere around 40 ponies, were killed. The only ponies to survive appeared to be victims of some grotesque experimentation, and the facility itself was set on fire. It turns out he was responsible for the deaths, something caused him to kill his handlers and escape."

"Well, what do we know about subject seven specifically?" Luna asked.

"Since he became an enemy of The Order, he's been hunting them down ruthlessly." Celestia began to explain. "It appears that he is trying to destroy them by killing them off or dismantling their assets."

"Well, that explains why you're trying to catch him." Luna replied. "We can't have vigilante pony running around killing others."

There was another reason for finding subject seven, but Luna could tell that her sister had the same feelings. But given the personal nature of the topic, she decided that it could be addressed later.

"Nor can we exactly involve the public either." Celestia replied softly before shifting her gaze back to Luna. "We can't exactly let everypony that somepony, who is genetically enhanced by the blood of their immortal alicorn princesses, is running around killing government officials who are members of a shadow organization."

"Which is why I need your help Luna." The white alicorn continued. "I haven't told very many others about this, and my job doesn't allow me to go looking for him. . ."

"However, because my night court isn't frequented as often as your day court, I've got more time to spend on finding him." Luna finished for her sister. "I guess it is ultimately better that I take the lead on finding him, I was always better at the hooves-on stuff than you were Tia. What information do we have that might help in finding him?"

"Well," Celestia began. "A psychology profile I managed to recover revealed a few interesting things about him."

Luna motioned for Celestia to continue.

"Apparently he doesn't like to talk and prefers silence, and was considered slightly anti-social at the time of the report. However, the psychological profile indicated that he has does posses good social skills which he exhibits when needed. He is highly intelligent, and sometimes exhibits sociopathic tendencies despite strong moral inclinations."

" Anything else?" Luna asked._ 'Great, there's a chance this pony is a sociopath who knows the difference between right and wrong'_

"Not that I could recover. As for physical description, all I could retrieve is that he is larger than the average pony and well built. But that's to be expected given his genetic parentage." Celestia answered. "It would also be safe to assume that he has a job or occupation that allows him to travel all around Equestria without drawing attention."

"Well, it looks like I have some work to do." The princess of the night said as she stood up. She turned to leave before pausing and gazed back at her older sister. "and Tia, You should have told me sooner."

"Hey Twilight?" Spike called up the staircase, "I've finished everything on the checklist and I'm going to the boutique, Rarity said she could use my help with an order."

"Alright Spike, but remember to be back before late." Twilight responded from somewhere upstairs.

Spike was nearing the library door when he heard loud knocking. Opening the door revealed a stallion in a courier's uniform. The stallion Looked around for a brief second, searching for whoever opened the door, before finally noticing the short individual in front of him. He tilted his head in curiosity as he stared at Spike with piercing cobalt blue eyes, surprised that a baby dragon answered the door.

The stallion was a pegasus. He had a silver-grey coat, and an unkempt dark blue mane. He was also notably larger than the average pony, and wore a courier's uniform with two packages strapped to his sides on saddlebags.

"Oh, a delivery? Twilight is the one to sign for those, just put it on the table over there" Spike said as he pointed a claw at a table in the center of the library. "Hey Twilight! Somepony's here to see you." Spike called out as he sidestepped the stallion and proceeded out the door.

"Welcome, What brings you to the Ponyville library?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight Sparkle? Packages for you." He lifted one of the packages from his saddle bag and placed it on the table in front of him.

"Oh," Twilight replied. "Why didn't they just try to send this with magic like my other mail?"

The stallion opted to say nothing, instead he rotated the package on the table so that the side marked 'Magically Volatile' in big red letters was clearly visible to the unicorn.

"Oh, now I remember! This must be the magical ether I ordered." Twilight said as she read the warning label. "Probably a good idea sending this using pegasi or earth ponies, there's no chance of them using magic and accidently igniting the ether."

_'Yes, that's great and all. Now just take your canisters and sign the delivery form.' _At least that is what he wanted to say, but again chose to remain silent as he pulled out a delivery receipt. It's not that he had anything against Twilight, he was just looking forward to making a side trip to Canterlot on his flight home.

"hmm…" Twilight opened the package on the table with her hooves and lifted out the bottle within. The bottle housed a blue glowing liquid.

"Follow me, I am going to need some help with this." She said as she turned away from the stallion and walked into one of the library's back rooms.

The stallion sighed before slowly following, still holding the unsigned form.

"I almost forgot, this stuff is really volatile." The mare continued as she struggled to open what appeared to be a heavily armored floor safe. "It has to be stored in a shielded container, otherwise ambient magical energy may ignite it. Can you lend me a hoof? I normally open this thing with magic but seeing how-"

Before Twilight could finish, the pegasus reached down and pulled the safe open.

"Hmph, you make it look easy." She said as she placed the canister inside. Finding the stallion's continued silence slightly awkward, she attempted to make conversation. "You know, making this stuff is expensive and time consuming. I ordered it so long ago that I almost forgot I did."

The stallion just tapped the delivery form in response.

"Oh right," She said as she kicked the floor safe shut. Convinced that the bottle of ether was now adequately shielded from magic, she lit up her horn and grabbed the form with her magic.

The moment she grabbed the form in her magical aura, the stallion froze like a statue. He was stunned at the unicorns abrupt use of magic. It's not that he was particularly untrusting of unicorn magic, it was the fact that he was still carrying the mare's second canister of magical ether.

To his misfortunate, magical ether is the _nitroglycerin_ of magical substances. It doesn't explode when shaken or jostled, but is incredible sensitive to magical energy given off by magical spells.

Now, the second canister in the courier's saddle wouldn't have ignited had the unicorn only signed the form with magic. However, she didn't only sign it.

In an effort to be polite, since unicorns have an easier time at manipulating objects, she rolled the form up and stuffed it back into the courier's saddle bags, close enough to graze the second canister with her magic aura.

"Thanks for the help, I hope you have a nice trip back to-" Twilight began before being interrupted.

"You Bucking Idiot!" The stallion shouted.

"W-What?" Twilight was taken aback by the sudden outburst.

"You ordered _two_ canisters, remember!?" He said motioning to the second package still strapped to his side, which was now humming and beginning to glow purple.

"oh yeah. . ." Twilight squeaked, Her brain momentarily frozen.

The courier however seemed to be thinking much faster than the deer-in-headlights unicorn. By the humming and purple glow coming from his saddlebag, he could tell the second canister's ether was already reacting. He also knew that the mare couldn't teleport away, even if she had the idea to do so, summoning the magical energy to do it would cause the canister to explode immediately.

With agility that would impress Rainbow Dash, the large stallion pulled a one-eighty and bucked Twilight firmly in the chest. The sudden, and rather powerful, kick launched her out one of the library's windows and placed her well outside her library home.

Within a second of her landing, the humming coming from inside the library intensified. As she picked herself up, she saw a purple glow flooding out through the windows of her library home.

She could tell that she wasn't far enough from the library to be safe, instinctively she cast a shield spell.

Not a moment before she finished casting the shield did the library explode in a brilliant display of purple and orange fire, sending flaming debris everywhere. The explosion completely decimated the library house, causing it to collapse.

Twilight sat in shocked at the scene that had unfolded before her. Thirty seconds ago she was talking to somepony in her own home, now she was watching it burn down. If it wasn't for the intense heat that was getting through her shield, she would have guessed it was all a dream. It took her a few moments to fully comprehend what happened. But as the books burned, her thoughts focused on the pony that was still inside.

"Oh No. . . I've k-killed somepony . . ."

-A/N-

Well, that's the first chapter. This is my attempt to add something interesting to my little (probably unnoticed) corner of fan fiction. I won't pretend that I've got either the best grammar or best story, so feel free to lend helpful advice.

I tried a different style with this story than my previous work, instead of revealing information about the character slowly I put it front and center (conversation between Luna and Celestia.) With that said, I don't know how long I'm going to make this. I'll make this a longer one if people think this story has potential. I feel as if the story is going too slowly, as I try to explain things too much. Do people want more or less explanation?

Oh, for those who are wondering, I deleted by previous work.


	2. Chapter 2

CH2

-A/N- 'Septem' means seven in the same language (Latin) that Luna means moon.

Luna was sitting in a dimly lit room somewhere beneath the Canterlot castle, surrounded by a fort of boxes containing countless documents. She was reviewing everything Celestia had collected about Subject Seven, unfortunately that included nearly a warehouse of paper. Most of it was useless though, a collection of case files on unsolved crimes and failed investigations.

She felt like she was grasping at straws. '_There has got to be something here. . . nopony is good enough to not make a mistake for years on end.'_

She was reading a report, recovered from The Order, that depicted Subject Seven eliminating various diplomats or government officials deemed nuisances. It was one of the few documents that actually confirmed anything.

The room itself was silent until Luna heard a familiar crackling pop, characteristic of Celestia teleporting into the room. It had to be Celestia, no one else knew of this place.

"You said in one of your notes that Subject Seven is like us, he isn't harmed by conventional attack? And that he can regenerate quickly from the few magical attacks that can harm him?" It was straight to business with Luna, something Celestia had expected.

From the way Luna had thrown herself headlong into the investigation of Subject Seven, Celestia had begun to worry. Luna had always had determined and strong willed, but this was something more. Celestia could start to see the signs of obsession in her younger sister.

She earnestly hoped that Luna wouldn't be consumed by the hunt for Subject Seven. Celestia wouldn't be able to stand the guilt if Luna grew an obsession that ended up hurting her. Especially because Celestia knew this might happen, in fact she counted on it. She needed Luna's help.

"Yes," Celestia's replied as she took up a position next to her younger sister. "The Order designed him to be a fighter. To make him efficient, as well as protect their investment, they made sure he inherited such abilities from our genes."

"But healing, large size and partial invulnerability is not the only thing he could have inherited" Luna stated "He could also have our sensitive hearing or superior vision. Maybe even my ability to see in the dark, or maybe your ability to tolerate intense heat?"

"Possibly, but there's no way to know what they have him until we find him" Celestia replied.

Luna sighed and looked up at the ceiling of the room. She wondered if she would ever get over feeling violated by the fact someone had managed to steal her genes. The knowledge that said genes were used to design a killer didn't help.

"This is just. . ." Luna started after turning her gaze toward her sister. "Just an ugly. I can't shake the feeling that I'm responsible for this. If I hadn't been Nightmare Moon when they stole my blood maybe he wouldn't be. . ."

"A monster?" Celestia guessed when Luna didn't continue.

"Yes" Luna nodded solemnly.

"Oh no, Lulu. Don't blame yourself for this." Celestia attempted to console her sister. She wrapped her wing around the younger alicorn and pulled her into a hug. "You didn't ask for this to happen, even Nightmare Moon didn't know about him. Nopony else can hold this against you, and you shouldn't either. The Order is responsible for Subject Seven and them alone."

"We have to find him, we have to stop him." Luna replied after some time. She retracted from her sister's embrace. Despite Celestia's words, Luna still felt as though she were personally obligated to see Subject Seven stopped. Obligated above her role as princess.

"I feel the same as you do sister." Celestia turned back toward the collection of evidence and files Luna was reading.

"Do you?" Luna asked. Her tone was slightly accusatory, though she didn't mean it. Celestia didn't fail to notice.

Ever since Celestia had told her about Subject Seven, the fact that it took Celestia a few years to inform her gave Luna an inkling of concern. She strongly suspected that her older sister had a second motive for finding Subject Seven, but she had refrained from asking about it earlier. But now, she wanted to be sure of it.

"I mean, is that the only reason why you're looking for him? To stop him?" Luna pressed.

"I. . . I'm not sure" was Celestia's uncertain response. However, it was all that Luna needed to know to confirm her suspicions. It also explained why Celestia was focusing on finding Subject Seven rather than The Order.

Subject Seven's existence was somewhat miraculous to the alicorns. For the longest time the princesses had been the embodiment of perfect health. They enjoyed youthfulness, near invulnerability, and immense magical and physical strength.

However, for all their 'perfection' there was one problem, neither of them could have offspring. The flaw wasn't a result of anything wrong with their bodies, but rather incompatibility between them and other ponies. Where they were considered perfect, the normal pony had flaws, and this difference was great enough to make their bloodline incompatible with everyone else.

Which is why hunting down Subject Seven had become a secret fixation of Celestia. Something in his blood or genes carried the answer to their problem.

"I just want to make sure that we're focused on doing this for the right reasons." Luna replied after a long silence between the two. "When the time comes, we don't let our personal . . . perspectives prevent us from doing what must be done, especially if he proves uncooperative."

The occupation of 'courier' tends to yield vigilantes certain benefits. It provides an excuse to go nearly anywhere, provides an excuse for long periods of time being unaccounted for, and stops others from asking questions such as 'what are you doing here?' whenever you're holding a box.

However, in order to get those benefits, one must actually do the job of a courier. For the stallion that was tasked with bringing Twilight her experimental supply of magical ether, the job was usually no trouble. But getting blown up changed that.

As he slowly woke, pain poured into his mind. It felt as though every inch of skin under his coat had been scrapped off with sand paper. The last thing he remembered before waking was the sensation of being crushed from all sides while burning.

The stallion cursed at the pain, rather loudly, before he sat up and looked around. He was in a hospital room, with a number of machines hooked up to him. Bandages nearly covered his entire body, and they restricted his movement.

"The mystery stallion awakes." A white coated pony with a pink mane and nurse's cap said as she entered the room. "You might want to keep the volume down if you're going to curse like that."

He didn't respond and just looked at the mare. She didn't seem to notice his lack of response as she began to check on the various devices attached to her patient.

"Wait here for a moment, I'll get the doctor for you and he can answer whatever questions you might have." She told him before leaving. It wasn't long before she returned with a green unicorn in a doctor's coat trailing behind her.

"You're awake!" The green unicorn said astonished, looking over the stallion then at the clipboard attached to his bed. "It was a miracle that you were alive when they brought you in, I thought you were a goner."

"Thanks doc, you inspire confidence." The pegasus replied with sarcasm. "When can I get out of here?"

"Leave? You're joking right? I'm afraid that's out of the question." The doctor replied. "You're lucky to be alive, you're in no state to be discharged."

"I feel well enough" He replied, knowing it was a weak argument.

"You're not well at all." The doctor said returning his gaze to the clipboard in his magical aura. "You came in with burns to over 90% of your body, massive internal trauma, and a concussion that made it look like your head got eaten by a train. I was convinced you'd be in critical condition for months and in a coma for a few years, if you lived."

The stallion didn't reply, he only shifted his gaze toward a window in the room. He noticed that it was morning, which brought another question to mind.

"How long have I been out for?" The stallion asked the doctor.

"You were brought in two days ago, after you were recovered from the wreckage of a burning building." The doctor replied.

The stallion cursed again, not as loud this time, but loud enough to earn a disapproving grimace from the nurse. The day he had made his delivery to Twilight was specifically arranged to let him pass through Canterlot on his return trip. There was supposed to be a meeting for members of The Order in the city, which presented him with several opportunities to undermine their activities. But with the lost days, those opportunities had certainly passed.

"Hey listen," The green unicorn began. "I want you to take it easy, alright? You're far from well and you're going to need rest."

"How long?" he asked.

"Judging from the last set of tests, I would say the better half of a year. But, by some miracle, you're awake and responsive. So I'll re-run some of those tests to double check a few things." The doctor answered as he checked the clipboard again.

The stallion only responded with a groan. '_Great, I get to be poked, prodded and tested some more._'

"Hey it's not all bad" the nurse said noticing his grimace. "Since you're not in a coma, we don't need the feeding tube. Also, you can answer a few questions."

The stallion deadpanned and decided to say nothing. '_Great, I get to be awake for the consumption of crappy hospital food. Monumental improvemen_t.'

"For starters, what's your name?" The nurse asked as she pulled out her own clipboard.

"Septem" he lied. It was the alias he used when delivering mail, an archaic way of saying seven, and it would do for now. He decided to beat the mare to her other questions he knew were coming. "No family history of chronic illnesses, no current medical needs or allergies to medication, no medication taken in the past twenty weeks. Anything else?"

"I see you've been through this before." She replied. "That's all for now."

"Septem?" The doctor began "Some ponies have been waiting in the lobby for a while now, to see if you'd pull through. But now that you're awake I'd be willing to let them see you, if you feel up to it."

The bandaged stallion said nothing, his face grimaced in contemplation.

"You should do something to take your mind off your injuries," The doctor added. "at least while I prepare some of the tests."

"Fine." he answered after a moment's hesitation. He was curious as to who would be waiting on him; he didn't know anyone in Ponyville.

"I'll get them for you." The doctor and nurse turned and left, closing the door behind them.

Septem laid back in his inclined bed, his bandages shifting slightly causing more pain on parts of his back and sides. '_If they were sent by the order, they would have already tried to kill me. But I'd better be ready for the worst.'_ He looked around the room until his gaze landed upon a tray on the nightstand. It had various medical tools on it, and the pony that had left it there must have been cleaning his burns.

Eyeing a scalpel he reached over to the tray and grabbed it before retracting his hoof beneath the sheets of his bed.

It wasn't long before the door opened again, through it came a unicorns, a pegasus and two earth ponies. Septem recognized the unicorn instantly. She was the one that blew him up.

_'oh, it's the bucking idiot.'_

To say he was upset about the whole explosion incident would be an understatement, and his expression revealed that the moment he saw her. The lavender mare, however, looked like a wreck. Her mane was messy and it looked like she had been crying. Her eyes betrayed guilt. The sight of her was enough to curb his rising temper, but not vanquish it.

Her friends all looked rather sad as well, but not as bad as her. One of them was orange and wore a stetson, and the other earth pony was so pink he thought it should be a crime. The other pony, a rainbow maned pegasus, caught his attention. '_oh, so this is that town.'_ He stared at the pony for a few moments until she had noticed, but he quickly shifted his gaze back to the lavender unicorn. '_Definitely not sent by the order.'_

"Come to finish the job?" he asked sarcastically, bitterness evident in his voice. His words only seemed to add hurt to the already sad grimace Twilight wore. She approached his bedside, looking over the bandages covering his body and face.

"I'm so sorry. . ." She began, nearly tearing up. "I didn't mean to do this to you, it was an accident. I-I thought I k-killed you and . . . I will do everything that it is in my power to help you heal. I hope you can f-forgive me."

"Umm . . . sure." He replied while raising an eyebrow. He didn't what to make of the lavender unicorn, but he felt her words were genuine. However, her expression did brighten at the reply, along with most of her friends.

"Any of you notice anypony looking for me while I was asleep?" Septem asked, facing the rest of the ponies.

"Uh, No. Not that ah can remember" it was the orange pony in the stetson hat that replied. The other's murmured in agreement "Ah can imagine that yer family must be mighty worried 'bout ya. Anypony ya want us ta talk to, tah let 'em know where ya are? "

"No need, don't have a family." Came his quick reply as he descended back into thought. _'Good, I don't think this whole thing has attracted any attention from the order.'_ The mares shared a glance at his response.

"Well then, who'd be looking for you?" The pegasus with the rainbow mane spoke up this time "Maybe we can let them know."

"My boss." Came the quick lie, Septem noticed the orange pony tilt her head at his response. "But no need, he's probably fired me already."

"Well look on the bright side! You're going to make a bunch of new friends while you're here getting better, and no place better to do that than Ponyville!" The pink pony spoke up as she bounced to his bedside, producing a box of cupcakes seemingly from nowhere.

"Just who the-" Septem began before being interrupted. He was starting to lose his patience with the mares. He was stuck here because of incompetence of one already, and the pink one was proving to be annoying.

"Living off an I.V. for a couple of days must have left you hungry! Here, have a cupcake!" The pink pony offered the pastry on an outstretched hoof, too close to his face for comfort. He eyed it for a second before returning his gaze to the other ponies.

"As I was saying, who are you? I recognize you, you're the one who nearly killed me" he said while motioning toward Twilight. "But why are the rest of you here?

"This is Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie" Twilight said as she motioned toward the respective ponies "They're my friends."

"Okay? You've been waiting on me the whole time?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"I have yes. My friends have been coming and going to support me." Twilight replied.

"Well, now that you see I'm not dead you can put your guilty conscience to rest and. . ." was the beginning of a malevolent response, but he trailed off as his gaze drifted back to Pinkie Pie. The mare was still holding the cupcake in his face. He narrowed his eyes and grimaced, trying to convey his irritation with the pink mare without words. However, Pinkie Pie just blinked at him a few times and continued to smile.

"Get that cupcake outta my face." Impatience saturated his tone.

"Cooommmon," Pinkie pie said in a sing-song voice, still smiling. "All my friends like my cupcakes, and everypony is my friend! Therefore everypony likes my cupcakes!"

Septem remained quiet for a few moments, hoping pinkie pie would take the hint.

"Why do you even have that? Didn't the doctor tell you I was in a coma?" Septem asked, still glaring at the pink pony.

"My pinkie sense told me you'd be awake, but even if you weren't I'd just get the feeding tube. Now open up." Pinkie pie replied as she moved the pastry closer to his muzzle. Her friends face-hoofed.

With an annoyed grunt, Septem replied by swatting the pastry off the pink hoof and onto the floor. It landed with a soft splat.

"B-But" Pinkie stammered, looking at the fallen cupcake in horror before glaring at the stallion. She reached into the box and retrieved another cupcake. "You will try my cup-"

"Listen you pink pest." The stallion interrupted her as he sat up, meeting her determined glare with one of much more anger. "I don't like pink, I'm not your friend, and I don't want one of your stupid cupcakes. So back off."

After a moment of processing these words, Pinkie Pie deflated entirely. As her smile was gone and her poofy mane straightened as she looked toward the floor and muttered something under her breath.

"Hey there now, take it easy. She was only trying to make you feel better." Rainbow Dash said after appearing next to the pink mare, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"Whatever you say, gay pride." That earned him a hostile glare from Rainbow Dash. '_Oh, this is going to go swimmingly'_ he thought to himself.

"What did you just call me?" Rainbow Dash challenged, if one could kill with an angry glare he would be buried already.

"You heard me, fruit cup." Was his quick reply, succeeding in angering dash further.

Now Rainbow Dash was not above slapping (if you could slap with a hoof) a stallion upside the face when he deserved it. However, the pegasus was above punching a bed ridden pony in the middle of a hospital. But Septem was pushing it.

"Do. Not. Insult. The Mane." Rainbow Dash responded with a livid glare. "Besides I'm straight, and I'll have you know that I'm not only the best flyer in equestrian but I'm also the mare that gets all the stallions."

"What?" The expression ranged between revulsion and dismay. "So you're a slut now?"

That was the question that finally broke the horse's back, initiating a verbal onslaught. The two pegasi kept finding more creative ways to insult the other. It wasn't long until Pinkie Pie started crying, earning the attention of the bickering ponies.

"I just wanted everypony to be happy!" Pinkie cried. "I thought you'd like cupcakes!"

'_Oh no, stop the water works!' _Septem started grinding his teeth. He hated Pinkie Pie's crying more than her talking.

"OKAY! Okay, Pinkie Pie was it? I'm sorry. . . Ms. Dash? I apologize." Septum spoke over Pinkie Pie's crying, which quieted significantly.

"I'm sorry everypony for being so . . . uncordial." Septum continued. "You could say I'm a bit cranky right now."

"More like an oversized-" Rainbow Dash was about to respond with another colorful comment before being cut off.

"Hey, do you know what getting burned alive feels like? Right now I feel like somepony shaved off my coat and sanded all the skin on my body off, it hurts to talk, breath, chew, let-alone eat a cupcake. These bandages aren't for show." He responded, anger still present in his tone as he glanced at Pinkie Pie then back at Rainbow Dash. "I think I'm entitled to be a little cranky, so blame your purple friend there for my sub-par attitude."

There was a moment of silence as they took in his words. Rainbow Dash wrapped a hoof around the crying pink pony and retreated from the bed ridden stallion, still looking angry.

"Uh . . . Why do ya have ah knife?" Applejack said as she pointed a hoof at the scalpel that Septum had hidden in his sheets earlier. It had been uncovered during his bickering with Rainbow Dash.

Septem paused for a moment, thinking of a way to respond. "I'm going to cut some of these bandages off." He replied. He felt around on his face, satisfied that the skin under the bandages didn't protest in pain anymore. It told him that the skin had healed, something that he had expected.

"Wait!" Twilight objected as she approached his bedside. "You sure that's a good idea? There's no way your burns got healed by now, and removing the bandages could lead to an infection that might. . ." She trailed off as she looked at him, surprise and confusion covering her face.

Peeling away the bandages revealed septum's face. The astonishing part of it was the fact that it appeared unscathed. If it weren't for the lack of an unkempt blue mane, which had yet to regrow, Twilight wouldn't have thought that nothing bad had happened to him at all.

Septum continued peeling away the bandages until he got to the base of his neck. He tried continuing to remove the bandages but his skin seared with pain in protest. Feeling around the point where he stopped peeling, he concluded that his skin and coat past the nape of his neck was still burned.

At the sight of Septem's relatively unscathed face, Twilight's jaw dropped. Her friends also wore surprised expressions.

"But t-that's not possible. . ." Twilight struggled to find the correct words to convey her surprise. Septem didn't pay her any attention as he continued to check various parts of his body for what wasn't healed, occasionally removing bandages.

When he was finished he crawled out of the bed and stood up, standing significantly taller than the mares in the room. His chest and midsection were still covered in bandages, but he was significantly less restricted now. He stretched his legs and flexed his wings, taking note of missing feathers. Most of his feathers, along with his mane, had been burned off. He didn't mind having a short mane, but no feathers meant he wasn't going to be flying for a while.

He let out a weary sigh after noticing the astonishment and confusion on the mares' faces. He knew they would have questions now; he just didn't want to deal with them. Or deal with the mares. "Maybe you should get that doctor. . ."

"You keep staring at me like that doc' and you're gonna have to buy me dinner." Septem replied. He deadpanned at the doctor's astonished expression. The green unicorn had returned with a tray of medical tools, which nearly dropped them at the sight of the pegasus standing. His sudden reappearance was timely though, it managed to head-off what would've undoubtedly been a salvo of questions from the lavender unicorn and her friends.

"What did you do?" The doctor asked Twilight.

"Me? I didn't do anything." Twilight answered slightly defensive.

"Hold on, Stay here." The doctors released the tray from his magical aura and quickly left the room, closing the door behind him. Septem knew the drill, the doctors was going to get his colleagues so they could gawk at him and speculate.

It wasn't too long before four more ponies entered the room, three of them in doctor's coats and one with a nurse's cap.

"Excuse me girls" A yellow earth pony in a doctors coat said as he circled around next to septum, causing Twilight and her friends to back away.

"This is the 12 o'clock burn victim from the other day?" The third doctor, a brown unicorn mare, spoke up this time. "That's impossible, I saw him yesterday and he was covered in second to third degree burns."

"Well, unless a pegasus of the exact same size and description came in here and swapped himself with the real patient…" The first one replied in sarcasm.

"This is definitely our patient." The earthy pony doctor stated as he looked at Septum's bandaged regions. "I cleaned and bandaged most of these burns myself, I recognize my work."

The doctors spent the next ten minutes speculating on what kind of magic or other condition could produce rapid healing. Sometimes poking or prodding him with some instrument or other. It wasn't the type of treatment he was used too, but it was something he had expected given past hospital visits. However, he always managed to keep the doctors from discovering anything substantive.

"Enough." Septem interjected. He wasn't fond of being a science experiment for some over eager doctors. More importantly, he didn't want to draw any more attention. A thing doctors tended to do when they didn't understand something.

"No tests, no questions. I'll be going now." He said bluntly.

"What?!" The three doctors cried in unison.

"And I expect you to observe doctor patient confidentiality. You're not going to tell anypony about my medical status, or what has happened here, understand?" Septem ordered.

"No no no. No." Came the green unicorn's rebuttal. "There is no way I'm going to discharge you, not without making sure you're at least able to take care of yourself. I don't know what is going on here or why it appears that you're healing so fast, but it'd be irresponsible for me to just let you go without finding out."

"Then I exercise my right to refuse treatment. So you can either discharge me or just stand there doing nothing" Septem countered. There was a moment's silence.

"Listen, there is no way for us to tell if you're healthy enough to go home. For all we know the trauma caused by the explosion could cause you to slip into a real coma. You need to let us help you." The green unicorn replied, which was met with an uncompromising glare.

"You know, the trauma he had to the head could also indicate impaired higher brain functions." The earthy pony doctor suggested, Septem didn't like where this was going. "Functions such as judgment? He may be unable to make rational decisions concerning his own health. . ."

"No. I know what you're trying to do and it won't work." Septem replied raising his voice and taking an aggressive stance. "You've got four witnesses right here." He motioned toward Twilight and her friends. "They can tell you I'm high functioning and full reasonable."

Well, maybe not Rainbow Dash. She still looked angry.

"They're hardly medical professionals capable of judging your mental state." The yellow earth pony responded with a trace of condescending tone. Septem knew he couldn't just leave if they decided to detain him for mental observation. They would call the guard to search for him.

"Fine, Lets compromise. But I'm not staying here" Septem replied.

"Why not? I'm going to need a good reason before I just let you go." The green unicorn doctor replied.

"Staying in a hospital environment drastically increases the chance of contracting a medicine resistant infection, which is a major concern for burn victims." Septem's nearly instant reply caught the doctors off guard. "And If I were to contract such an infection, it would rather difficult . . . determining whose liable." The doctors didn't miss the threat. "From a legal perspective that is."

"Well, yes." The doctor began, less condescending this time. "but considering the circumstances it would be worse for you if to go unmonitored."

"I disagree, my current injuries are not that extensive." The tall Pegasus replied, flexing his wings. The movement strained pulled on a few bandages around his chest, causing him to wince in pain again.

"Sorry, if you still have some head trauma you might slip into a coma somewhere. I can't let you leave here without someone to watch you." The doctor answered resolutely. "Do you have any family nearby?"

"No. I'm also not willing to sacrifice my privacy to let one of your nurse's watch me. I'll leave here alone." It was the doctors turn to look resolute.

"um. . . I'll do it." Twilight interjected between Septem and the doctor. "I'll watch him for you."

"No." Septem declared. "Why are you still here?"

"I want to do everything I can to make sure that you get well again. It's my fault this whole thing happened anyway." Twilight replied, obviously eager to help. "What would you need me to do?" she asked the doctor.

"Well, you'd have to watch him and report problems immediately. You'd also have to make sure he returns here and checks in with us every so often, for at least the next three weeks." The doctor answered, turning to Septem.

"Twilight sparkle has a reputation around here," The doctor continued. "She's a capable mare. I'd be okay with letting-."

"Then it settled!" Twilight proclaimed, interrupting the stallion. Septem didn't know if she was always this happy to help or if it was just a way to ease her guilty conscience.

"Whoa, hold on a second. I didn't agree to any of this." Septem protested, looking at Twilight skeptically. "She's the one who nearly killed me in the first place."

"It's the best deal you're going to get, and not because I have any faith in your situation. Twilight has proven to all of Ponyville, on multiple occasions, to be one of the most competent mares in Equestria." The green doctor stated candidly.

"Great, Trust the advice of the doctor, who couldn't understand my case, when he vouches for the pony that set me on fire. . ." Septem deadpanned.

"Take it or stay here." The doctor continued flatly. Septem stood mumbling something, probably unpleasant, under his breath. He was about to object in some form when he when Rainbow Dash flew up to him and hovered at eye level.

"Hey Pal." Rainbow Dash glared at him, intent on staring him down. "You've been nothing but a jerk since you woke up, and my friend wants to help you. So you're going to let her help you, and you're going to be nice about it, or ill help them strap you to that bed."

When Septem had finally been processed out of the hospital, Twilight's friends had gone their separate ways, leaving Twilight and Septem to walk alone together. Septem insisted that they stopped by one of Ponyville's banks, telling Twilight that he wanted to be ready for his medical expenses.

The real reason for the visit to the bank was to gather funds for bribing the doctors into silence, he didn't want them talking about his miraculous recovery when all was said and done. Afterward Twilight lead him through the streets of Ponyville, claiming that she wanted to stop by a friend's house to check on Spike before they went to where she was staying.

She talked about various things during the walk, trying to engage Septem in some conversation. He remained quiet though, but rather pretended to listen. It wasn't until the duo passed by where the crater where the library used to be that Septem decided to speak up.

"hmm." He grunted, gazing at the crater and the surrounding burn marks. "That's strange."

"What is?" Twilight asked, eager to find Septem saying more than one word responses.

"That blast crater, it's not typical for an explosion made inside a building." Septem answered. He knew because of his training by the order.

"That right. . ." Twilight responded, pondering to herself why Septem would know about blasting patterns. "The initial magical ether explosion cooked the floor safe containing the second canister, which caused it to fall through the floor into the basement. There it failed and ignited the second canister. Causing an explosion that was basically underground."

"Oh, so both canisters did go off. I was wondering about that." Septem replied, still gazing at the crater and the surrounding scorch marks. There was nothing left to indicate that a tree home had been there before, let alone a library.

"Yes, because the second explosion was essentially in the ground, it launched you upwards and into one of the adjacent buildings." Twilight pointed a hoof at one the house of one of her former neighbors, a portion of the second story looked like it had been hit with a cannon ball.

"Well, I hope their insurance has 'explosions from amateur scientists' coverage . . ." Septem replied non-chantely before continuing in the direction of their walk. Twilight gave Septem an annoyed look as she resumed walking beside him, slightly peeved at his remark.

"No. . ." Twilight replied, trying to ignore being called amateur. "But everypony in this town has crashing pegasus insurance ever since Rainbow Dash moved here."

"Ha," Septem Chuckled "Figures." There was a pause; Twilight couldn't hold her curiosity anymore.

"How did you survive?" Twilight asked bluntly. "I mean, I'm happy that you're alive and I couldn't live with the guilt knowing that I had accidently killed somepony, but how did you survive that explosion?"

He glanced at Twilight before sighing irritably; he had spent the entire morning dodging questions by the doctors about that exact topic. Some small part of him hoped that he the doctors would have been the end of it. For a moment he contemplated telling her the truth, if not just to mess with her. _'I'm genetically enhanced, designed and trained as a soldier/assassin by the biggest conspiracy group in the history of this country, which so happens to be planning on taking over the country. But don't worry, I'm slowly destroying it by methodically killing every last one of them. Oh, by the way, you know too much so I'm going to have to kill you too. Opened or closed casket?' _

"Luck, I guess." He replied before looking forward, trying to figure out ways to ditch the purple mare.

"Luck?" Twilight was obviously not satisfied with the answer. "That wasn't luck. Nopony should be able to survive an explosion like that, and you were at the center of it. Even the princesses wouldn't walk away from that unscathed. Granted most conventional means of hurting a pony doesn't even faze the princesses, but that was a magically induced explosion. You should be dead."

"How do you know that?" Septem stopped walking for a second and stared at the purple mare with suspicion. It wasn't very often that he met someone who knew how to inflict substantial injury on alicorns.

"Know what?" Twilight replied.

"How do you know that the princesses aren't hurt by conventional attack?" Septem clarified. "That's not something most ponies know."

"Oh, I'm princess Celestia's personal student. I've known her since I was a foal, and she told me that little fact at one point or another." Twilight chucked nervously as she remembered another magical mishap involving her mentor. "Oh, and I'll have you know, I'm not an amateur scientist."

Septem only grunted while considering her answer and continued walking. '_Great, I'll have to be careful with this one. She'll have friends in high places.'_

"You still haven't answered my question." Twilight continued, her curiosity fueling her inquiry. "Luck didn't save you from a fiery death, not to mention how fast you appear to be healing. It has to be some form of magic, but in all my studies I've never come across any type of magical art that is capable of healing somepony so rapidly."

"Maybe I just have a fast metabolism?" Septem responded with a hint of sarcasm, hoping to find some way to draw the mare's attention to another topic.

"You're kidding right?" She deadpanned, evidently missing the sarcasm.

"Why are you so curious?" He asked mildly irritated. "Aren't you just happy that I am alive?"

"Oh, I am." Twilight answered. "But, I'm also a scientist. My field of study is primarily magic, and magic is the only thing that can explain why you're still alive, and how your body healed so quickly."

"Oh, not another one." Septem groaned. Twilight ignored his response and continued speculating.

"I believe it has to do with an ambient presence of magic in your body, probably tied to an aspect of your special talent." Twilight replied, looking over the bandages still on Septem's body, which also covered his cutie mark. "What is it?"

"Surviving explosions." He replied sarcastically.

"Seriously?" Twilight asked, she wasn't sure if she should believe him. Septem only responded by looking at her.

He desperately wanted to shift the mare's attention to something else. Anyone that had discovered his ability to heal quickly had always looked at him like he was a gold mine, and treated him as though he were a specimen to be strung up and dissected until all his secrets were revealed.

Septem never let them get the chance though, which probably saved their lives. A rather powerful shadow organization really wanted Septem's existence kept secret just as much as he did.

"What the hay were you doing with canisters of magical ether anyway? Don't you need a permit for those?" Septem asked in a slightly accusing manor.

"I do...-err did have a permit." Twilight defended. "It's just that the manufacturing time was so long, I forgot that I ordered two canisters and... well you know the rest."

"So why did you need them?" Septem continued, not sure if he really cared about her response. The pair started crossing a small stream on a wooden bridge. The town buildings and homes were beginning to thin out.

"I was going to use it in an experiment," Twilight began to explain, full lecture mode. "I had read that magical ether can be used to form a crystal able to drastically magnify the power behind a unicorn's magical abilities."

"What?" Septem asked quietly in disbelief. _'This crazy mare was gonna experiment with that stuff?'_

"Yes," Twilight answered his unasked question. "Starswirl the bearded had managed to form basic crystals with simple geometrical configurations in their lattice structures. However, according to the scientific model he used to explain his discovery, the amplification effect of the crystal was dependent on the overlapping energy states of each particle in the. . . "

After the first sentence, he instantly regretted his decision to use this particular topic as a diversion. However, he did take note that Twilight was indeed intelligent. He would need to be careful around her.

"How does your model account for discrepancies in the crystal's geometry caused by impurities?" He interjected when Twilight stopped her lecture to breathe. "The flaws would at least drain energy from your spells." He asked the question more to satisfy his own ego, to show her that he was smart enough to understand what she was talking about.

However, his question had an unintended side effect. Twilight froze in place when she processed Septem's words. After a few moments her face contorted into a grimace of confusion. Septem chuckled on the inside, realizing he had derailed her geek rant.

She opened her mouth to reply, only for her expression to go back to one of confusion before closing her mouth again.

"I have no idea, I never thought of that in my equations. I don't know how I could factor them in. I'll have to redesign my experiment from the ground up." Twilight finally admitted. Septem seized another opportunity to frustrate the purple unicorn.

"Sooooooo let me get this straight." He began, giving her a skeptical look. "You were going to test a theory that was cooked up by a half crazy mage nearly a thousand years ago, using a highly explosive substance? And broken equations? All by yourself?"

". . . When you put it like that" She managed after a moment.

"You're the dumbest smart mare I've ever met. . ."

"This the place?" He asked, pointing a hoof at a nearby house. Twilight looked up to see Fluttershy's cottage.

"Yes, We're here." Twilight said as she approached the door and banged on it a few times. "Fluttershy! It's me Twilight, you in there?"

There was a muffled response from beyond the door, and a few moments later butter yellow pegasus answered the door.

"Oh, Hi Twilight. Spikes out back helping me with-" Fluttershy began in her soft voice before freezing at the sight of the large stallion standing her friend. Her eyes went wide before she shifted her head toward Twilight, flicking her mane to hide her face.

"Hi Fluttershy, Thanks for watching Spike for me. The last few days have taxing, and. . . ." Twilight trailed off before sighing. Being Fluttershy's friend, she knew well that cause of the yellow mare's shift in demeanor.

"Fluttershy, this is Septem. Septem meet Fluttershy." Twilight continued. "Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. She's just shy."

Septem only nodded at Fluttershy in response, but it didn't say anything himself.

"So Fluttershy, Thanks again for watching spike, I hope he wasn't too much trouble." Twilight said

"It was n-no trouble at all, I don't mind watching him." Fluttershy voice was hardly a whisper.

"What was that?" Twilight asked.

"I said it was no trouble." Fluttershy repeated in the same subdued manner.

"What?" Twilight asked before flicking her ear and aiming it back at Fluttershy.

"She said Spike was no trouble." Septem said nonchalantly as he looked over the front of Fluttershy's cottage, noting the various bird houses and other objects meant for animals.

"You could hear her?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow while Fluttershy chanced a peak at him from behind her mane. Fluttershy's voice was so subdued Twilight couldn't distinguish Fluttershy's words from soft mumbling.

"Yah. . ." He replied. She was waiting for him to say more, but he just returned to observing the cottage.

"Never mind," Twilight turned back to Fluttershy. "Can I see spike?"

"Yes" Fluttershy replied, at a volume Twilight could hear this time. She motioned for them to follow.

Fluttershy's cottage was a cozy place. Septem looked around, observing the wooden floor and various wooden furnishing. By the various tools and miniature entryways in the walls, it was evident that the cottage was a safe haven for a number of different animals.

"Spike's out back." Fluttershy squeaked, motioning toward the back door.

"Thanks, I'll go get him." Twilight nodded before continuing out of the room, leaving the two pegasi alone.

Aside from the tick-tock of a wall mounted clock, the room was entirely silent. Septem sat back on his haunches and continued to look around the room, while Fluttershy continued to hide behind her pink mane. Occasionally she would chance a peak at Septem. Several minutes went by before either of them spoke.

"I like you Fluttershy, your quiet." Septem stated simply.

"umm. . . Thanks?" Fluttershy replied, barely at a whisper.

It wasn't long after that before Twilight reentered the room with a familiar dragon and some saddlebags.

"-And if the princess sends anymore letters, set them aside and don't break their seal." Twilight said to spike before turning back to Fluttershy. "You sure you're okay with him staying here? Rarity said she could also watch him if you need a break."

Spike's eyes seemed to light up at the thought of staying with Rarity.

"No, it's fine. He is actually quiet helpful with the animals, although some of the smaller ones are afraid of him. I'm happy to let him stay" Fluttershy responded. Spike deflated.

"Well, Okay. Thanks for the help Fluttershy. He's going to have to stay somewhere until the library is rebuilt, or I can convince the hotel manager to let a baby dragon in."

"You sure you don't want me to stay with Rarity?" Spike asked as he raised a claw, he sounded hopeful.

"No Spike, I wouldn't want Rarity to be overwhelmed. She has to look after her sister this week as well." Twilight answered, putting the final nail in the coffin of Spike's hopes.

"Oh well, It was worth a shot." Spike replied.

"Well, if that's everything then, I guess were off. You know where to find me, and remember what I said about the letters" Twilight said to Spike before she turned to Septem. "Let's go."

"Hey, wait a second!" Spike exclaimed in surprise before either pony could move a hoof. He scurried in front of Septem to get a good look at his face.

"Yeah, I remember you." Spike said, pointing up at the stallion. "You're the one who died."

"I sure hope not." he replied with sarcastically.

"You're the one that went into the library right before it blew up." Spike stated while looking over his bandaged body. "How are you still alive? You must've been blown sky high."

"I beginning to wish I had died." He muttered under his breath before sighing. '_Not this conversation again._'

"What? Didn't catch that" Spike replied.

"Luck, I guess." Septem replied, looking away from the two mares and dragon. He looked out the window and noted that it was late afternoon. "Well, look at that, it's getting late, we should go."

"Luck. . ." Irritation in Twilight's voice. "There is no way you survived by luck, Stop saying that."

"This is the stallion that was in the library?" Fluttershy said, finding the courage to speak loud enough to draw the other's attention.

Twilight nodded in affirmation.

"How come you're not hurt more than you are?" Fluttershy continued.

After a moment of starring at the two mares and dragon, Septem shrugged with his wings, an act that caused him to grunt in pain as parts of his still burned coat protested under their bandages.

"He healed." Twilight stated.

"He healed?" Spike asked in astonishment. "How?"

"Fast metabolism." Septem replied, eliciting an exacerbated sigh from Twilight.

"Don't ask. I don't think he even knows." Twilight replied.

"Yah but, healing that fast?" Spike said as he glanced at Twilight than back at the stallion. "Kinda freaky if you ask me."

"Spike, Don't call him a freak." Twilight chastised. "Anyways, an incredible ability to heal like his is rather fascinating. Personally I think it has to be magically based, but I don't know much about it. Hopefully I can figure it out, whatever lets him heal so fast could revolutionize medicine."

"Magical huh? What if it's not?" Spike asked in speculation.

"Well, I don't know of anything that can regenerate itself quickly without magic." Twilight answered, Septem could see the gears turning in her head. "Hey Fluttershy, have you encountered any animal with the ability to rapidly heal."

"No, but I have heard of some magical creatures having an extraordinary ability to heal when their young, but nothing that could fix burns like new in a short few days." Fluttershy answered, her own curiosity overcoming her shy nature. "But I'm not an expert on that."

Septem was content to let them two mares and dragon speculate, so long as they left him out of it. It wasn't until Twilight started mentioning research, and how she'd have to call upon friends back at the canterlot library since her library burned down. Something he definitely couldn't permit.

"Hey, listen." Septem abruptly stopped their discussion, an amount of sarcasm and irritation to his voice. "As thrilled as I would normally be at the idea that two mares find my body fascinating, I'm going to have to ask you to stop talking about it. My medical health and the condition is a private matter, and seeing how you two are not medical professionals I would like you to refrain from saying anything. Understand?"

The two mares and dragon nodded.

"Good, Let's get out of here." Septem said to Twilight before turning toward the front door. After she said her final goodbyes, she caught up to him just as he exited the cottage.

"Hey. . . Septem?" Twilight asked hesitantly.

"What?" Came Septem's less than friendly reply.

"Uhh, Well. Before you asked that I not tell anypony about you're uhh. . . 'medical' status." Twilight confessed nervously, like a kid admitting to stealing a cookie before dinner. "I may have told somepony about you in one of my letters. Now I didn't tell her very much, I just told her that you miraculously survived and that I'm helping you recover."

Septem said nothing; he just turned to look at her with a slightly annoyed expression. She waited a moment before continuing.

"And I was hoping that you would let me keep her updated regularly." Twilight continued. "You see, everypony I know heard about the accident in one way or another. I mean, which of your friends wouldn't know if your house exploded?"

"No," Came the stalwart response, causing Twilight's ears to flatten against her head.

"B-But . . . this whole situation has been revealed so much for my research on friendship." Twilight protested. Her friends had been very supportive of her after the accident. "Not to mention, she'd be the best pony to ask about your ability to heal. She could probably she'd light on how you survived the explosion."

"You know, I got the sense that you were a geek _before_ you told me you researched friendship." Septem responded, earning a disapproving look from Twilight.

"I'll have you know, I'm one of the elements of harmony, which is based on friendship." Twilight responded indignantly "I know what it means to be a friend. I conduct research on the magic of friendship not just to gain knowledge, but also because I enjoy it. Besides, the princess Celestia approves."

"The princess?" Septem raised an eyebrow. "What does she have to do with it?"

"Oh, She's the somepony I've been writing to about you." Twilight explained. "She's been very supportive of me since the accident."

Septem froze in place as soon as he had processed those words. His expression changed from mild annoyance to a combination of seriousness and anger. '_What has this stupid mare done?'_ He looked around his surroundings, no royal guards in sight.

"Umm. . . Septem" Twilight began. She noticed his sudden change in demeanor and slowed to a stop herself. Septem glared at her. "Is something wrong?"

'_The princess must not realize who I am. Otherwise this place would have half the royal guard on top of it right now.' _Septem thought to himself. _'This is well beyond any measure of acceptable risk! Grr... How was I supposed to know that she would be the princess's student? I'm gonna have to tolerate this mare for now, until I can find a way to ditch her without raising questions. But I can't let her give the princess any more information, Celestia might put two and two together.' _

Septem knew that he couldn't threaten or bribe Twilight to ensure her silence. If anything happened to Twilight, it would attract the direct attention of the princess. That was something he had to absolutely avoid.

"Uhh, Septem? Are you okay?" Twilight repeats her question.

"Listen to me very carefully." Septem's voice returned in a deadly serious tone. "Don't talk to the princesses about me, period." There was a pause while Twilight processed his words. He didn't give her the opportunity to respond before he continued walking.

"Why not?" Twilight asked, the growing suspicion evident in her voice earned another look from Septem. For the first time she was suspecting there might be more to his desire for privacy than just doctor-patient confidentiality. This time she wanted to know what was going on, her tone made it clear she wasn't going to back down. "Why shouldn't I talk with the princess about you?"

"Because," Septem began, trying to think of a suitable lie or explanation. "Because, I don't trust them."

"What?" Twilight asked in surprise, she couldn't think of a reason as to why anypony wouldn't trust her mentor. Septem remained silent again.

"How could you not trust them?" Twilight asked, or rather demanded.

"Does it matter? The fact is that I don't. And, as I'm sure you know, the basis of every friendship is trust. Since I don't have it for your princesses, or for you, then you shouldn't have anything to write her about me." Septem replied angrily.

Twilight stood silently, slightly intimidated.

The rest of the walk to the hotel was silent. Twilight spent the whole walk thinking about what Septem had said. She couldn't disagree with what he said about trust being the basis of friendship. She could also understand why he didn't trust her, she did almost kill him, but she couldn't figure out why he didn't trust the princess.

"Well," Septem said, breaking the long silence between them as he looked around the hotel room. It was rather luxurious, and he had to assume Twilights room across the hall was furnished just as well. "I've clearly got the wrong occupation."

"Huh?" Twilight replied.

"Being a librarian must pay a lot better than I thought it did." he clarified.

"Ha, I wish." Twilight chuckled. "No, The hotel manager gave me a free upgrade when he found out I was the princess's personal pupil. Unfortunately she still doesn't want spike in here, and I didn't press the issue. . ." She trailed off nervously at the mentioning of the princess. Septem signed before responding.

"Listen Twilight," He began, trying to keep his voice soft. "I'm sorry for getting so . . . upset at you when you said you wrote to the princess about what happened. I don't know why I expected you to keep these recent matters private. But I feel that I have a good reason for not trusting the princess, even though I'm sure somepony in your position wouldn't understand." There was a moment of silence while Twilight contemplated his words.

"Well, try me." She finally answered. "Maybe I can put some of your concerns about the princess to rest. I'm pretty sure you've never gotten to know the princess like I have."

"Well, that's just it. I'm sure you'd be biased." Septem continued. "But I'll tell you anyway."

What followed was a carefully disguised philosophical debate, something he knew a studious mare like Twilight couldn't resist. He argued that the princesses were corruptible, a fact that Luna has clearly displayed with the whole nightmare moon thing. But he also pointed out that neither princesses did what was good.

He asserted that Nightmare moon never chose to be a good again, but had it forced upon her by the elements of harmony at the will of her older sister. Without that choice, he argued, the Lunar princess's free will had been removed by Celestia.

"So, let me get this straight." Twilight said, deep in thought. "You think princess Celestia is evil because she used the elements of harmony to force Luna to be good again, essentially removing Luna's free will?"

"Unless you define using magic to control sompony's mind as a thing a good pony would do." He replied.

"But Nightmare Moon was out of control, She wanted to bring about eternal night!" She objected.

"Removing her _powers_, not her _free will_, would have solved that." He answered bluntly "Instead Celestia made her younger sister a slave in her own mind." Septem replied. "There's no way Nightmare Moon can be good if she doesn't choose to be good. Good or evil, a slave is a slave. They do not control what they do."

"Have you considered that the elements of harmony didn't remove her free will?" Twilight asked, her conscience starting to get uneasy. Twilight was the one who used the elements on Luna after all.

"You were there." He replied. "At what point before the elements of harmony were used did she indicate that she wanted to be good again?"

Twilight thought for a moment, but her lack of response was answer enough.

"Well, If by some magical miracle they didn't remove Luna's free will. Then there is no good reason to think that she isn't still Nightmare Moon pretending to be good." Septem answered.

Twilight didn't respond, but rather just sat thinking of how to respond. Septem took this opportunity to press his point.

"In the end, both situations are bad." Septem continued. "One way, Princess Celestia is evil and Princess Luna is a slave, or Celestia is incompetent and Luna's pretending to be good. Either way, the princesses are not trustworthy. So I don't."

"Well, I can't agree with you. But I see why you might think that way." She replied after a moment. "

By the time their discussion had ended, it was already midnight. Septem was satisfied that he had convinced the lavender mare to refrain from talking to the princess, at least about him. He knew she was not fully convinced, but he didn't care, he made up that entire argument to justify his distrust of the princess so Twilight wouldn't write about him.

He yawned audibly, breaking Twilight out of the internal debate left over from his mind game.

"Well, I'm going to bed." Septem stated. "You'll be in the room across the hall, I assume?"

Twilight nodded. "But first, I need to do a few things."

Septem just looked at Twilight before shrugging, without pain this time, and walking into the bedroom of his hotel suite and lying down on the bed.

He was dozing off into sleep when he was suddenly jolted awake by a strange sensation in his lower back. Craning his neck over to investigate, he discovered Twilight using her magic to peel back the bandages around his midsection.

"What are you doing?" He asked, poorly concealing his annoyance.

"Oh, The doctor's said your bandages should be changed regularly so that your burns don't become infected." Twilight explained.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" He asked skeptically. "You're not exactly a certified nurse."

"No, But I've read a few books. . ." Twilight paused, knowing the unsatisfactory answer would annoy him. He had been a jerk toward her and her friends the whole day, she deserved a little payback. By his less than amused expression, she saw that it worked.

". . . and after a few mishaps with my friends, and advice from Fluttershy, I took a class on rudimentary medical care. You know, just in case." She replied before he could voice his protest. He sat in silence for a moment before responding.

"There's nothing I can say to get you to stop, is there?" Septem stated more than asked.

"Nope."

After removing a few bandages, Twilight found that the burns she saw this morning had seemingly vanished.

"Astonishing. . ." Twilight sat dumbfounded by an unscathed portion of his coat.

"Your body is incredible. . ." Twilight continued, thinking of how the smallest bit of knowledge on how Septem was able to heal might revolutionize the way hospitals treat burn victims. "This is magical." She concluded.

A part of him wanted to tell her to stop and leave him alone, but he did agree to let her help. He also knew that arguing with her at this point wouldn't end well and might get him sent back to the hospital with those invasive doctors.

While Septem was lost in his own thoughts, Twilight could hardly believe what she was seeing. She continued to peel away the bandages up until the point that Septem had indicated. The burns that had previously extended down his back had receded up until just beneath his wings, leaving only the barrel of his chest still injured.

The moment she finished removing the bandages she turned her focus toward another object of her curiosity, his cutie mark. She had hoped it would explain his ability to heal, however what she found only a confounded her more.

His cutie mark was a black circle with an orange flame-like glow of light radiating from around it. Inside the black circle was a pair of wings, the same color as the orange ring, with a sword pointed downward in the middle. A product of his genetic engineering, just like everything else.

"What the hay . . ?" Twilight whispered to herself before glancing back up at Septem. He wasn't paying any attention, seemingly more interested with what he could see out the window.

'_Maybe it's black because it's still burned?'_ Twilight thought to herself as she brushed it with her magic. Nothing happened, so she raised a hoof and starting rubbing at the mark.

However, from Septem's perspective, a hoof was caressing his flank.

It took him a moment for the sensation to register in his mind. However, the moment it did, he whirled his head around to regard Twilight.

"The hay are you doing?" Came his question in a tone both stern and surprised.

Twilight froze before slowly turning to look at him. "I was just-"

"Having fun?" He interrupted. He was annoyed. "You stroke the flank of every stallion you've just met?"

"I uh..." Twilights was starting to blush. She was searching for the right words to explain, but they eluded her as though conspiring to prolong her embarrassment.

"What exactly?" Septem demanded, determined not to let this opportunity to make her feel like an idiot pass by. Maybe it would be awkward enough to get her to leave him alone now.

"I-I thought your c-cutie mark was still burned so I was trying to push ash out of the way and. . ." Twilight's trailed off again.

"Okay?" Septem responded sarcastically "You thought my flank was still burnt, so your first instinct was to rub it?"

Twilight raised a hoof toward her mouth, still blushing. After a moment of silence Septem continued. "Were you going to kiss it next?"

"I Just wanted a b-better look at your cutie mark." Twilight answered. "It's rather strange."

A sense of dread washed over Septem as he shifted his gaze from Twilight to his cutie mark. '_I've never let anypony see my full cutie mark since I left The Order.'_ He usually had an illusion spell, or other form of disguise, concealing a portion of his cutie mark. He occasionally varied what was shown, something that was very helpful in replacing his identity when he needed to. However, he was certain that the illusion spell would not have survived the explosion, and with his cutie mark full revealed he felt someone exposed.

"What is it?" Twilight broke the silence with her question as she motioned toward the mark. "What special talent did you have to get that?"

The cutie mark itself was a depiction of a solar eclipse, with a pair of flaming wings and a sword down the middle. It signified a special talent in using cosmic magic, amongst other forms, in both flying and fighting.

He begrudgingly admitted it was fitting, given the primary donators of his genes and the purpose the order had behind engineering him. They wanted to use alicorn traits in creating a superior fighter. One, if they could control, could help them in their quest for power.

"Ugh. . . I'm tired now; can you interrogate me about it in the morning?" Septem groaned tiredly, he just wanted this day to end as well as a chance to think up a lie for Twilight.

With a sigh of acceptance Twilight nodded, she also felt the effects of the late night. With a yawn she faced Septem

"Move, I still need replace the bandages around your chest." Twilight replied. "I should be done soon..."

-A/N-

Sorry it's been a while for me to update this. Don't worry though, I have most of the next chapter already written.

Septem has WINGS and DOES NOT HAVE A HORN. I know genetic engineering would be the perfect reason for making my character an alicorn, but most of you frown upon alicorn OCs. Besides, I don't want him to be one.

Septem's cutie mark is engineered, just like the rest of him. I felt it had to be an eclipse because it was a combination the sun and the moon, but he was engineered as a pegasus for fighting. Hence an eclipse with wings and sword.

Please let me know how I can improve my writing. I am trying to balance explanation with entertainment. I want to explain what's going on to satisfy the reader's curiosifty (if they have some), but I feel it makes things go slow. Any suggestions?


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